It's not often the sartorial choices upstage the finely-tuned minds on University Challenge, but the latest episode of the BBC2 quiz saw just that happen.

Howe, a Japanese Studies student from Oxfordshire, sparked a flurry of gifs and tweets online after he appeared on the show wearing a very colourful jumper.

The mind-bending knitwear included red, green, yellow, grey and black swirls and, on Twitter at least, stole the limelight from the other contestants.

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That's Howe you upstage the other contestants! The Japanese Studies student, from Fitzwilliam, Cambridge, left viewers wildly distracted with his colourful pullover

Some viewers remarked that Howe's pullover reminded them of Joseph's Technicolor Dreamcoat, with one regular University Challenge Twitter wit, @KDCunliffe, remarking: 'Before the show Paxman asked Howe what he wanted to do after leaving University.'

The wag then posted an image of Howe with a speech bubble that read: 'Any dream will do', referencing the title of the most popular song in Andrew Lloyd Webber's stage adaptation of the popular bible story.

Host Jeremy Paxman introduces the teams from Leicester and Fitzwilliam, Cambridge...but viewers had no idea just what was coming from Howe

@ElspethOakley added: 'Howe has an absolutely fabulous jumper on #UniversityChallenge'

Others were less keen. @MarkStevensPD called the sweater a 'visual representation of a migraine' while @cbradbee suggested: 'Howe's jumper must be a dare.'

One of the biggest characters to emerge from last season, Bobby Seagull, even tweeted, offering his approval for the out-there sweater: 'Mr Howe's jumper on University Challenge tonight was a thing of beauty.'

Wacky knitwear aside, the show saw Fitzwilliam, Cambridge defeating their Leicester rivals by 200 to 105.

The academic quiz now enjoys a cult following on Twitter, with thousands tweeting their thoughts on the contestants and the questions when the current series airs on BBC2 on a Tuesday evening.